Reminisce
by RainingStarWars
Summary: "Yeah, I knew him. I knew Han." Luke and Rey reminisce over their memories of Han Solo.


"I thought I might find you here."

Rey's voice broke Luke from his reminiscent mindset. He looked up from his position leaning over the Denjarik table, eyes misty as she stared at him from the doorway of the main hold on the _Millennium Falcon_. He didn't respond, his expression like that of a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar as he shut his hands around the golden dice in his palms. Of course, a child with his hand in the cookie jar wouldn't look quite so sad. Luke's expression seemed to be asking the question, _"How did you know I was here?"_

Rey shook her head a little, staring at him with a look torn between blank and sympathy. She answered his unspoken question. "I heard you leave your hut. I've heard you leave the past few nights, too."

Luke looked down and nodded shortly, huffing out a bit of air through his nose. Rey stepped closer and held out a hand towards the couch as if to ask if it was taken. Luke caught this and scooted over a bit, allowing her to slide in. She folded her hands in her lap and looked down at them, Luke staring ahead, almost expressionless, as he shuffled the dice around in his hands. Rey had noticed him take them before, but she didn't say anything. After having to tell him that his friend of nearly forty years was dead... It was the least she could do.

Both knew what was on the other's mind. More specifically... Who.

"I know you miss him," was all Rey said. Luke nodded, not looking at her. "I miss him, too," she added a moment later. Again, he nodded. Rey went quiet then, starting to think he wouldn't speak a word to her. Maybe now was a bad time... He had clearly come during the night to mourn his friend alone. She shouldn't have interrupted.

Just as she was about to get up, Luke suddenly spoke quietly: "He was a good man." Rey froze, turning to face him. She hadn't heard him speak so emotionally since she had arrived. Most of the time he just sounded... Hollow. She sat back down fully and nodded.

"A great man," she whispered, attempting to suppress the emotion in her voice. The faint traces of a smile flashed across Luke's face. "He cared for me..." she found herself going on, "He offered me a job—practically tried to take me in within a day." Luke actually did manage to express a small "hmph" of a laugh. He shook his head thoughtfully.

"He always did have a knack for trying to take in stray wide-eyed kids... He did the same thing to me." Rey smiled. She tried to imagine a younger Han Solo, attempting to convince a less world-weary Luke Skywalker to come with him. That sounded like Han. "He always had a nickname for somebody, too," Luke remembered out loud, now able to smile at his memories somewhat, "He and Leia called each other a variety of crude names. Me? He always called me 'kid.' Heh, I always hated it at the time, but..." The smile drooped. His expression grew more grim and serious. "But now it wouldn't be so bad..."

Rey looked at him sympathetically. "He called me 'sweetheart' sometimes, and he would call Finn 'Big Deal,'" she attempted to lighten the atmosphere. Luke smirked some.

"That sounds like something he'd come up with."

"It does, doesn't it?" she grinned, her teeth showing at the memory of him. They shared looks, each of them seeming a little lighter. Luke smiled at this girl he hardly knew. He leaned forward on his elbows, allowing the dice to dangle by the chain from his fingertips.

"He was something else," he whispered, still smiling thoughtfully, "Annoyed the life out of me when we first met." Rey laughed. "I always thought he was a stuck up jerk back then. Didn't take poor, innocent and naive me long once I was out in the galaxy to realize it was all fake—just a disguise to keep the ruffians out there wary and off his back." Luke shook his head, shutting his eyes. "Han had a heart of gold. He just didn't know how to express it."

"I think he expressed it a lot more than he realized," Rey added. She remembered Han giving her the blaster, offering her a job. He tried to act aloof about it, but he couldn't hide that selflessness. It was too obvious. Luke chuckled in agreement. He also reflected back, recalling when Han had come back to help them destroy the Death Star, and then the time he rescued him on Hoth when no one else would.

"He risked his life for me several times," Skywalker confessed, now clutching the dice again, "Sometimes when no one else would. He never much liked the Jedi, and at the time, he hardly believed in the Force, and yet... He never did give up fighting for the cause, even when he didn't entirely want Ben to be a Jedi. He trusted me..." Han trusted Luke. _And I failed him..._

Almost as if Rey could hear his thoughts, she grabbed his wrist. "You didn't fail Han."

Luke just shook his head, brushing away her attempt to comfort him. She didn't know what he had done.

"Han was a good man," he changed the subject back to the smuggler at hand, "And he was a good friend..."

Rey pulled her hand back and stared at the dice as Luke rolled them around his hands. She nodded. "He was. I know how badly it hurts me since he's gone... I can only imagine how it affects you since you knew him so well." Luke didn't respond. It went silent again.

Eventually, though, Luke looked over at Rey. "You know, Han wouldn't have wanted me to train you to be a Jedi, either."

Rey rolled her eyes some and laughed slightly. "Then I guess I'd have to disappoint you both, because you _will_ train me." Luke could only shake his head at her resistance. "Maybe that's why you two were friends—because neither of you knew what was best for you."

Skywalker actually did laugh then. He squinted at her as he sat the dice on the table, but never removed his hand from touching them.

"You may be right about that part."


End file.
